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School Language Assistants Program (SLAP) 2019

The School Language Assistants Program (SLAP) is an approved program under the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) that seeks to provide Australian schools with the opportunity of gaining a linguistic and cultural resource person from overseas for up to 12 months. Australian schools invite young people, who intend to pursue a career in teaching, to assist qualified Australian teachers in contemporary linguistic and cultural classroom activities and instruction. This valuable cultural exchange opportunity is offered to host schools for only a limited financial commitment and responsibility.

Benetta Cason

Mount Alvernia College

Brisbane QLD

I’m almost at the end of my journey here in Brisbane as the Italian Teacher Assistant at Mount Alvernia College and I couldn’t be more happy and grateful for how it went! Time has flown so fast!

It’s been one of the best and most incredible experiences of my life because I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the real Australian life and I could meet many people from all over the world that I’m now glad to call ’friends’!

The school staff and students have been incredibly welcoming and nice during my entire stay and very curious about my cultural roots, my daily life, about Italian food and lifestyle... so different from the Australian ones.

During these weeks I’ve been working with students from Y7 to Y12 and I got involved in many different activities such as staff meetings, weekly assemblies, school parties, school days dedicated to sport, music, culture, charity… I’ve worked with the language teacher in the classroom and together we have prepared many different work sheets and audio-visual materials for the everyday lessons.

Thanks to a poster I created, I could offer some extra Italian “lessons” to small groups during daily lunch times to help them get prepared for their final exams and I shared with them many Italian cultural aspects regarding music, recipes, fashion, lifestyle… they also could try some typical Italian candies that I brought for them. Seeing their smiley faces was priceless!

Furthermore, the school gave me the opportunity to help organize a “Cultural Fest” in which I served gelato to the entire school with the collaboration of an authentic gelateria of the city and we also prepared pizza together!

All of this was challenging for me, but very fun!

I’ve been also extremely lucky with my host family! They have been the sweetest and nicest I could ever hope for! They have involved me very quickly into their life like I was a member of the family, we have had dinner together almost every day and they also took me to some of the most typical Brisbane attractions such as the Australian Zoo (where I finally cuddled koalas and kangaroos), the Ekka, Moreton Bay, the Sunshine Coast… we had a great time together!

In my free time I had the opportunity to visit Brisbane, Byron Bay, Cairns, Stradbroke Island, the Gold Coast and many other Australian places, and I shared these moments with wonderful people that I will remember forever!

For me this has been a life-changing experience and I’m infinitely joyful and grateful about every single thing I’ve done!

Erwan Werthe

Kirrawee High School

Sydney, NSW

I really enjoy working as a teacher assistant in Kirrawee High School. The staff is wonderful and really involved in students success. My first mission is to prepare the Year 12 French “continuers” for their speaking HSC exam. To achieve that goal, I've organised individual lessons with each student besides the collective classes. My second main task is to prepare the lessons for the Year 12 French “extension” classes. I look for TV shows, articles, video or any type of document that can be used for a discussion about worldwide news topics and issues. Following that, I prepare a sum up of the document so the students can use it as an example for the essay that they have to write for the HSC written exam.

In addition to that, I participate during the Yr 7, Yr 8 and Yr 10 lessons. Mainly, I do presentation about France and the French culture to initiate discussions with students. Finally, I help the staff for the preparation of special days in the school like the "Intercultural Day". During this one, we organized some workshops about the French culture : "pétanque", cooking "madeleine" and an escape room.

Everything is going great with my placement. My host family are really nice and welcoming. I feel like at home. Moreover, we go out every weekend and we do a lot of activities like going to the zoo or walking along the coast.

It's a fascinating internship which teaches me a lot of things.

Pierre Demaison

Bishop Druitt College

Coffs Harbour NSW

I’m now well integrated in the school and the language team. I help the French teacher to run classes, I take students in small groups (4-5) and sometimes when she’s in training for work, I run classes by myself. I work a lot oral with students (pronunciation, comprehension…).

Everything works well, students are respectful with me. I feel really good here!

Coffs Harbour is a beautiful city. The family is really beautiful with me. Every weekend we go to do activities in nature, or see basketball matches.

When I was with the French teacher’s family for the first weekend in Coffs, we went to a rugby match in Gold Coast, that was really cool!

Jeanne Chéné

Rosebank College

Sydney, NSW

I enjoy my time here so far, I feel so lucky to be in Rosebank because the staff, the students are so nice, and the Catholic culture makes me feel at home.

I attend staff meetings, school activities, I do French conversations during lunch break with teachers and with students. Tonight, I will attend the parent welcome and information evening.

I’m learning everyday, and this experience is also helping me to grow as a person because it requires me to be open minded and to step outside of my comfort zone.

Testimonial

Ormeau Woods State High School

Brisbane QLD

Yui is amazing!!! She has fitted in to school life at Ormeau Woods SHS seamlessly. She has been a great asset to the Japanese department – nothing is ever too much trouble and she loves helping out in the classroom. Yui has a great relationship with the students that she encounters and they love hearing her stories about Japan and the Japanese language.

Yuka Miyagi

Kelvin Grove State College

Brisbane QLD

I am doing well and as you know, term three started on Monday!

At school, I join classes of year 7 to year 12. Each year has each topic, so I share my experiences as a Japanese person to the students and teachers based on their levels and topics.

I run a Japanese conversation club once a week. We talk about school, hobby, entertainment, and so on. In this club, not only students but also tutors and teachers who are interested in Japan join. I think it is a good opportunity for them and me to talk and learn Japanese. Moreover, the other day, I made yakisoba, like Japanese fried noodles, for students. I will send you a photo of me making it.

During the holidays, I went Sunshine Coast with my host family. I went to a beautiful beach, kayaked, and ate delicious food. Another day, I met other SLA teachers in Brisbane. We talked about each school and I could know we had really different experiences even we were in the same program. It was a first meeting, but we had great time.

I hope you feel how I enjoy being here.

Ayano Oshita

Burnside State High School

Sunshine Coast QLD

In Japanese classes, I help them write letters correctly and sometimes I help students who are behind or ahead of the class. I’m really happy to be here and to support them. I’m really happy to be here and to support them.

Today we had Japanese Cultural Club. We made a camera with origami. Students enjoyed the activity. We will do calligraphy next Friday.

When I don’t have Japanese class, I go to English class and volleyball class.

And my spare time, I enjoy going to some markets held on weekend. I made some friends at uni, and I will go to Brisbane this weekend with some friends. They hold a small event for Japanese people living in Brisbane, so I will join them. I also will meet Yuka and Nanako, WEP assistant teachers, there. I’m looking forward to it.

I enjoy my time in Australia. People here are so kind and I love beautiful beaches. Thank you for giving me such a great chance.

Huina Liu

Somerville House

Brisbane QLD

I am Huina Liu. I have been enjoying a Chinese teacher assistant at Somerville House, which is a private girls school in Brisbane.

I am very fortunate to have this opportunity. I read about the School Language Assistants Program (SLAP) online in March this year, which I was very interested in because I would like to work in the area of cross-cultural exchanges between China and Australia.

This is my first time in Australia and I really like it here. The students at Somerville House are from Pre-prep to year 12. This allows me to work with different grades’ students. In August, nine students and one teacher from Hangzhou Xuejun High School visited Somerville House and I took on the role taking accompanying them to the Lone Pine and the Sea World. I also have opportunities to explain to students about China, and how Chinese people live. And we also play Chinese games in the classroom. The students at Somerville House are great to teach and the teachers here are very friendly and hardworking. I learn a lot from them.

There are three teacher assistants in the language department. They are from Japan, France, and German. We share one apartment and get along very well with each other. We were experienced EKKA together. It has been a great Australian experience so far.

I am really cherishing the opportunity of working here. I hope I can help students to better understand the Chinese culture.

Yuya Sasaki

Malanda State High School

Atherton Tablelands QLD

It has passed just a month since I came to Australia. I gradually get used to living here and working at two schools (primary and high). I teach Japanese to year 5, 6 at primary school on Wednesday and year 7, 8 at high school on other days. Teaching Japanese with English is so difficult for me, but I enjoy classes and meeting to students very much every day! Ms Inge Arnold, Japanese Teacher, always takes care of me, so I can spend great time without any troubles.

Also I enjoy staying with my host family. They are very kind. Sometime, their friends come and eat diner together, which is very interested and good experience for me. I would like to talk a lot more and build good relationship with them.

In this holiday, I have been to Cairns, Uluru and Sydney with my friends from Japan. We enjoyed snorkelling at Fitzroy Island, hot air ballooning, Kuranda Express, looking at Uluru, Opera House, Harbour Bridge. In addition, we could get new friends who are married elderly German couple during that trip. We really spent good time!

Gabin Tardy

Toowoomba Grammar School

Toowoomba QLD

First of all, I have to say that my colleagues are very kind to me and very patient. They try their best to get me involved and feel relax.

After school I adopted a specific routine which consist of working on a task for upcoming lessons or studying Japanese to keep me busy. Then I usually go to the library where I talk to some students while I read. Then I usually spend time with them at the dorm til dinner time and then just relax in my room.

I'm getting involved in a bunch of things. One of the best being the Adventure Club which took me along two weeks ago on a day trip to TreeTop Challenge.

Since my Japanese is good enough to help with grade 7, I get the chance to attend one twice a week. Thanks to a flexible schedule I might be able to participate in other classes such as Geography or History.

I do my best to help around when I teach alongside my colleagues. Since this is completely new to me, I got a lot to learn from the mistakes I may make from time to time. But I take account of every single advice or recommendation my colleagues give me and try to implement them as much as possible to enhance my teaching skills.

Alice Zaggia

Galen Catholic College

Wangaratta VIC

I love this experience and staying here is clearing my ideas regarding what I would like to do in my future and which career to develop. When I was at home I could only imagine that something like this could happen, but now I'm just living it and it is really useful, not just on a working level, but also on a personal one.

At Galen I assist four teachers: three of them are Italian, while one is Australian. I'm getting involved a lot and I feel really helpful.

I mainly work with the year-10 students who are currently revising the Italian conditional and future tense. I helped them in this part as well as with some translations. They also shot a short movie in which they had to speak a little bit of Italian, so I assisted them in the pronunciation part.

The other two years that I see really frequently are year 11 and 12. In the first one, there are also seven Italian exchange students. I support students in the translation part, for example. Also, the exchange students and I, together with the teacher, shot some short interviews answering questions regarding future plans, studies and wished career. Instead, the year-12 students are having their special studies and preparing for the exams, so they ask me questions in Italian about some specific topics and I answer them giving all the information I know, such as regarding the new Italian "Esame di Stato".

As for years 7, 8 and 9, I assist them doing some exercises or I have little conversations with them. In year 7 I helped the teacher explaining the alphabet, while in year 9 I'm being helpful testing some students.

Furthermore, next week we are having the Italian Day in which all of the students who study Italian are supposed to cook some traditional dishes, such as Crostatine, Pasta, Pizza and Gnocchi! I gave a hand writing down all of the recipes and I will also stay in the kitchen with them!

Another crucial event is the Italian Camp in September. As it is supposed to be on the last days of my program, I'll finish my experience here 'with a bang'.

Lola Vahé

Benowa State High School

Gold Coast QLD

My host family is incredible with me, they are always here for me if I need and they let me to do what I want. I like share diner with them because they cook very well, and they cook plates of all country around the world, like Indonesian, Japanese, Indian ! Sometimes we go on a walk during the weekend.

At school, my colleagues are so kind with me. I have to speak individually to students in class, I have to mark tests. With a little group of students we went camping in the Australian bush, at the Mount Barney. It was difficult for me because it was my first camping, but very interesting. Everybody was so kind with me.

I really enjoy my adventure in Australia, to live in a family and to work in a high school is a excellent way to discover the Australian culture and it’s the more important thing that i wanted for my trip!

Testimonial

Morningside State School

Brisbane QLD

What a wonderful term we had with volunteer language assistant Ms Sara Onizawa. Outside our Japanese program, I have had great feedback from Term 3 from the teachers and students. She has participated/delivered Spelling Mastery lessons, small and individual reading groups, sight word testing, resource making, origami and Japanese number lessons, small maths group focused learning to name a few.

Jeanne Paris

Warwick West State School

Warwick QLD

I am extremely lucky to be at Warwick West School. Everyone is so nice to me. All the school staff and the kids made me feel good from the day I arrived.

On Tuesday and Thursday I’m helping Helen in class. At the beginning of each lesson, I ask students basic questions in French so they can practice their speaking skills (comment ca va, comment t’appelles tu?). Then I help with pronunciation, grammar and I’m also helping Helen in the preparation of new resources for prep to play with.

On Monday and Friday, Helen is not here so I go to the other teacher's classroom (year 2, year 4 and prep) and help them. For year 2, I’m doing a short lesson, I chose to speak about seasons in France because it’s very different from here. I can also talk about big events in France during each season (14 of July, how we spend Christmas or Easter).

Yesterday I made a little speech during the parade. I talked about my city, my family and French culture. The kids loved the picture of the snow!

Also, I’m so happy to be in Helen’s family, they are so nice. I really feel like home. They made me discover the area, it’s very beautiful!

So it’s a very good experience, I’m learning so much from the teachers but especially from Helen! She’s incredible!

Maria Boninsegna

Cairns State High School

Cairns QLD

I’ve been in Australia for a month now and everything is going well. I am really busy at Cairns State High School, there is always something to do. Everyday I can learn and teach at the same time, it’s amazing! The Italian teachers are very friendly and helpful and they involve me in everything they organise.

I work with students from years 8 to 11. Year 8 main theme is food. I help them with their pronunciation and with the creation of their “Menù”.

Year 10 students are interviewing Italians migrated in Australia. We went together to Ingham for the Italian Festival. We had a lot of fun singing Volare!

I assist year 11 students with speaking and listening practice. I have also the possibility to follow some of them individually, especially I help them to improve their written abilities. Moreover some students are going to participate at the Italian speaking competition, so I’m sure we’ll practice their speech together.

My host families are very nice. They make me feel at home. We spend a lot of time together and every weekend we explore Cairns!

I’m very enthusiastic to be here, I love Australia!

Sascha Thomann

Firbank Grammar School

Melbourne VIC

I've been in Australia for a month now and have had a great time so far. My host family is incredibly nice and I feel very comfortable with them.

I've also settled in well at school. It’s a girls’ school where I work with students from years 7 to 12. The days often pass quickly because there is always something to do. I spend most of the time correcting homework and short exams or helping with preparations for class. Other tasks are one-to-one conversations with the girls from year 12 to prepare them for the final oral exams in October or recording poems and fairy tales so that the students can listen to them at home.

What makes me most happy is the reaction of the students when I tell them something about Switzerland or show them Swiss books and articles. Two weeks ago, we celebrated the Swiss National Day together. We ate some traditional home-made plats and I told them something about the national languages and Swiss dialects. The girls were really excited! I’m glad to see that they enjoy learning about my culture and my family.

It is definitely a valuable experience for me to work at this school. Not only do I learn something about the Australian school system, which is very different from ours back home, but also about Australian culture due to some excursions I can join. I’m happy that I can work here as a language assistant and am very grateful for this opportunity!

Yann Nibling

Mercedes College

Perth WA

My stay goes very well, my host family is wonderful I do a lot of activities with them, for example last Sunday we went to the zoo with the son and the grandmother. Tomorrow, my host family’s mother’s sister invites us to a lasagna party, I have already been to two beautiful beaches (Cottesloe and Scarborough). I really like going to school and teaching French because the girls and staff at Mercedes College are so nice and friendly!

During classes, I help the girls with their exercises and when their must learn vocabulary, I say the word in French and the girls repeat after me. Now, I’m making a video clip, in French, in which I explain the things to do and see in Brisbane. I chose Brisbane because I spent 2 weeks in Brisbane before my stay in Perth. With the years 11 and 12 I train them for their oral assessment next week. I created a mind map to help the years 12 to talk about their future. Witch year 11, we work on French cities such as Strasbourg, Metz, Lyon, Marseille, etc… We look at where these cities are in France, the culinary specialities, the weather, the things to do and see and the girls have to make a presentation on the city that they chose.

I plan to make a presentation in the “Alsacienne” culture to compare French culture and “Alsacienne” culture and thus increase girls’ knowledge of French culture and the diversity of French regions.

Xuerui Feng

Scoresby Secondary College

Melbourne VIC

I live with my Chinese teacher who is young and she is really nice to me. We went MOMA and saw a lot of famous paintings, and she took me to some popular brunch restaurant, we also went to some beaches, ate the hotpot, and she said when summer coming she will bring me to go on camp. And in my second week I went to the Great Ocean Road which is amazing.

In school colleagues are nice and patient to me. The students in classroom are different to China, the atmosphere is relaxed and active. Last week the sister school come to Scoresby Secondary College and we prepare cooking and PE activities, and arrange their host family, they really enjoy there.

Click here for more information on WEP's School Language Assistants Program.